Grateful Dead
1974-05-17
Pacific Coliseum
Vancouver, BC


Source: BASF LH C120 recorded on a portable Sony cassette deck with hand-held external stereo microphone
Lineage: master cassette > HD (except for "Promised Land," from the 1st gen safety copy)
Encoding: CDWave > flac frontend > flac 
Taped by: Mike Kent
Transfered by: Pantagruel 

File Size:  559 MB (FLAC) 

Setlist: 

Disc One:

01  Promised Land
02  Deal
03  The Race Is On
04  Ramble On Rose
05  Jack Straw
06  Dire Wolf
07  Jerry speaks! "Relax, folks . . ."
08  Beat It On Down The Line
09  Loose Lucy
10  Big River
11  It Must Have Been The Roses
12  Mexicali Blues
13  Row Jimmy

Disc Two:

01  Playing In The Band
02  U.S. Blues
03  Me and My Uncle


MD5/FLAC Fingerprints: 

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Notes: 

This is a modest little audience recording of the Wall of Sound that I've always loved.  
It may not stand up to the great recordings of the same era by the likes of Rob Bertrando 
and Jerry Moore, but it really captures the ambience and puts you right in the middle of 
the Vancouver Deadheads.  I wanted to circulate this one as a tribute to all the
great audience tapers of that era, and in honor of the Wall of Sound, which
was partly responsible for many nice audience recordings back in the day, as well as being 
an awesome thing to behold.

Thirty-one years of careful storage couldn't prevent a certain amount deterioration 
on this tape. There is a little hiss (which was always there), and some sonic 
inconsistencies (partly due to its age and inevitable wear and tear).  The first 
track had to be taken from a 1st gen safety copy, due to some minor damage in the 
first few minutes of the master cassette (there were some clean DAT copies of this 
recording made in the early 90's, so it would be nice to get one of those circulating 
in place of this one).  Some of the tracking is a bit offbeat, but I had my reasons.

There were originally *two* C120's -- tape 2 had the rest of the Dead's 2nd set 
(from "Ship of Fools" through "Sugar Magnolia"), plus all of Cody's opening set 
(Cody and the LPAM whipped the crowd into a total frenzy).  Unfortunately, tape 
2 met with a tragic accident before it it found its way to me.

This show is overlooked and underappreciated, coming as it does between the monster 
Missoula show on 05-14 and the epic Portland and Seattle shows from 05-19 and 05-21.  
It didn't circulate much until the soundboard appeared on the scene in the late 90's.
Among the highlights of this partial show (for me, anyway) are the *smokin'* version 
of "Big River" and a rowdy "U.S. Blues" that prompted a friend of mine to ask, 
"Is that the Grateful Stones or the Rolling Dead?"  

The real gem of this set is "Playing in the Band."  Phil is at his oblique best.  
There are moments where he generates some truly weird sounds, as he "plays" the 
Wall of Sound itself, as if it were an instrument in its own right (which it was).
The band as a whole makes some dramatic twists and turns in the course of 23 minutes,
and the the PITB vibe makes its way through many distinct alien landscapes on its way.

One great features of this recording is to hear the audience reacting to what's happening in the music.  
For those who've never been there, the Coliseum is a classic arean configuration.  In those days, 
the floor was open for dancing.  With all its shortcomings, this recording puts you right
in the middle of the action (invoke your surround feature and turn up Phil!).  For anyone who ever
attended an early 70's show at the Coliseum, the ambience of the place really comes through here.

Be sure to check out the soundboard version (if you haven't already), especially the 
rare, vocal version of "Nobody's Fault But Mine" from the second set.  Garcia was busted 
earlier in the day at the airport, and barely made the gig on time.  There is a hilarious 
account of this on Blair Jackson's website, where he has collected some "outtakes" from 
his biography of Garcia.  Jerry sang the tun

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